upend
[uhp-end]
- to set on end, as a barrel or ship.
- to affect drastically or radically, as tastes, opinions, reputations, or systems.
- to defeat in competition, as in boxing or business.
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- to become upended.
- to place the body back-end up, as a dabbling duck.
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Origin of upend
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for upend
Contemporary Examples
It is a revolutionary story, which threatens to upend the world as we know it.
It would inject a threat of accountability into power, and upend the impunity wartime leaders had operated under for years.
In August, Sen. Ted Cruz linked the need to upend the IRS to its abuse of power.
[S]omething larger is going on here, which could upend everything and produce unintended consequences.
The one event that could upend that is an encore from a passive, disengaged Obama.
Robert Shrum on the Vice Presidential Debate: Biden’s Win Was a Big F@$&ing DealRobert Shrum
October 12, 2012
Historical Examples
The log plunges after him, holding him down and back till he drowns; and his whereabouts are revealed by the upend of the tree.
The Story of the TrapperA. C. Laut
It is safe, as we will never meet again, and all ideas of justice will upend in the coming cataclysm.
The SequelGeorge A. Taylor
upend
- to turn or set or become turned or set on end
- (tr) to affect or upset drastically
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for upend
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper